Israel calls US 'bias' for singling out Eilat in State Department advisory

London, Aug 9 (ANI): Israel has accused the United States of bias and rewarding terrorism after the State Department urged Americans visiting Eilat to exercise caution following a rocket attack on the Red Sea resort, while it failed to issue a separate advisory warning of similar dangers in the nearby Jordanian city of Aqaba.

Last week, suspected Islamist militants fired five rockets on Eilat, Israel's only city on the Red Sea, one of which went astray and killed a Jordanian national in Aqaba, which lies on the other side of the bay. There were no casualties in Eilat, where the only rocket to hit the city landed on open ground.

According to The Telegraph, Stas Meseznikov, the Israeli tourism minister, denounced the advisory for singling out Eilat but not Aqaba.

The warning on the rocket threat in Eilat came in a minor amendment to a special State Department travel advisory issued in June at Israel's insistence.

It focuses primarily on the dangers of trying to reach Gaza after a number of Americans joined a flotilla of pro-Palestinian activists that attempted to breach Israel's naval blockade of the territory in May, nine Turks, one of whom held US citizenship, were killed when the flotilla was intercepted by the Israeli navy.

Later, Israel called on the United States to issue a travel warning urging its citizens to stay out of Gaza, the paper states.

There is no similar special travel advisory for Jordan. (ANI)